The present invention relates to bandoliered flechettes, and to a method for making bandoliered flechettes.
Flechettes are dart-like projectiles that are shaped for aerodynamically stable flight and used as anti-personnel weapons. Each flechette defines a tip at one end that leads the flechette during flight, and fins at the other end that stabilize the flechette during flight. The flechettes are packed into a cylindrical shell, and the entire assembly is fired toward the desired target. The shell explodes near the target and releases the flechettes, which are propelled, tip first, toward and penetrate the target.
Flechettes are commonly produced with a method that employs a modified common nail-making machine. The technology used in nail-making machines has been in existence for many years. This known method of manufacturing flechettes involves supplying the machine with coiled wire, feeding the wire into the modified nail machine, forming the tip and fins, cutting the wire, and expelling the formed flechette as a single, loose-pieced item. There are manufacturing inefficiencies and quality concerns associated with the use of this method. First, the method is quite slow—generally less than 100 parts per minute, per nail machine and, typically, approximately 60 parts per minute. Second, the cost of each part produced is high. Third, the quality of the finished pieces is relatively low. In particular, the use of a modified nail-making machine to make the flechettes occasionally leaves residual slivers of materials, or burrs, on the fins or tips of the flechettes. Burrs are commonly produced by the prior art method of manufacturing due to the fact that this method processes the wire continuously. That is, the flechettes are formed on a single strand of wire, and then are cut to separate them from each other. Thus, the tip and fins of adjacent flechettes are connected together when they are formed on the wire, and the flechettes are separated by cutting the strand between the fins and tip of the adjacent flechettes. It is at the area where this cut is made that the burrs are sometimes produced. This method can produce a hook-shaped burr on the tip of the flechette or a burr on the fins. The burred tip can cause the flechette to be unstable in flight. Flechettes with burred fins are unacceptable because they cannot be packed into the cylindrical shell properly. In either case, the burred flechettes must be either further reworked or discarded, either of which adds to the cost of productions. Finally, certain operations often must be performed on the loose flechettes after they are formed on the wire and separated from each other. The post-forming operations which can occur in the manufacture of flechettes include heat treating, coating or finishing (for example, coating the flechettes with zinc phosphate), and various assembly operations (for example, assembly of flechettes into a cylindrical shell device). These operations often require that the flechettes be arranged in a desired pattern. For example, the operation of assembling the flechettes in a cylindrical shell requires that all the flechettes be so oriented that all the fins point in one direction, and all the tips point in the opposite direction. However, the prior art method of manufacturing yields completed parts in the form of loose pieces that are oriented in different directions. Therefore, the current method does not lend itself easily to the post-formation operations.
Therefore, there is a need for a method for producing flechettes that improves the rate of production, lowers the per piece cost, and improves the quality and consistency of the flechettes, while at the same time facilitating the handling and conveying of the flechettes during post-forming operations.